by Scott Jentsch

May 16, 2001

This is the way those movies back in Freshman Earth Science class should have been shown! I think less people might have fallen asleep had the imagery surrounded their fields of vision.

Covering not only traditional rock caves, this beautiful film goes to the Arctic Circle to descend hundreds of feet into ice caves that are so fragile, they can only be searched after days of extremely cold weather, and then travels to the Yucatan peninsula to search underwater caves with scuba gear.

As with many IMAX films I've seen, the cinematography in "Journey into Amazing Caves" is excellent. Even if you don't get a chance to see this in an IMAX theater (if possible, try to see it in an IMAX theater, not an IMAX-dome, since the dome distorts the image), I would recommend renting this when it is available on DVD. Even with the distortion in our viewing, the visuals were excellent and the large image made you feel as though you were in the caves with the explorers as they searched for samples of life in the most extreme locations.

The film is narrated by Liam Neeson, who has the right voice for this kind of work. Backing up the visuals and Neeson's narration is a great soundtrack of Moody Blues songs. The music doesn't get in the way, but it supports the experience of exploring the caves, and you get to hear some nice variations of their work.

Well worth watching, so if you don't get to the theater to see it, make sure to catch it on DVD when it's available!